Tuesday, October 4, 2011

The World is Flat, Folks.

So being introduced to the world is flat concept changed my idea of global economics via the Flat Classroom Project. This focuses on the concept developed by Thomas Friedman that the economic playing field is flattening out. Its becoming even for countries like India and China who are in the eastern hemisphere and are starting to control the economy of the world like America has, like Britain has. He describes it as such. The first version of the world economy took place in 1492 to the early 1800s and was focused around country economy. The second version took place from the early 1800s to the year 2000 and focused around large company economy. The last version has taken place since then and focuses on individual growth in the economy.

Next were the iron rules of business. The first always being: Do something or someone else will. Really it says take advantage of the ideas you have before someone else has it and takes all the profit for something that you had an idea for. The second rule is your biggest competition is yourself. You need to create new ideas and make them fast because that will be your economic downfall. The third and last rule: Learn to communicate like the rest of the world does or you’re getting nowhere. People have learned to communicate a certain way with each other and if you can’t do that then it’s going to be a tough economic road for you.

The Flat Classroom Project worries me with how much we are going to have to rely on the internet and trying to communicate efficiently with each other. Are times zones going to matter? Are there hints and tips on how to connect to a person you feel like is away from the group?

3 comments:

  1. I'm not sure that the communication system will be efficient either. I don't think we have webcams, so I guess Skype can't be an option. Even if we did have Skype, I think the time zone differences would be a major issue with that...
    Maybe we can create chat rooms for our groups to communicate!

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  2. The World is Flat changed the way I view communication too! I had never really thought about how we are able to communication with people all around the world through the advancements in technology.
    And I'm worried about how we are going to share information with people too! I guess we'll just have to figure it out, haha :)

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  3. Hey all - just to reassure you, yes there will be discussion boards. You can use your Nings as well as utilize the discussion boards within your Wikis. We'll go over that this week.

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